A pill costing less than £1.50 a day has the potential to save the lives of thousands of heart failure patients, medical trials suggest.
The drug, ivabradine, is already available in the UK to treat angina.
Prof Martin Cowie, who led the UK-based part of the study, said it could save up to 10,000 lives each year.
The trial involved more than 6,500 people in 37 countries who already used standard treatments such as beta-blocker drugs.
Over a typical study period of two years, ivabradine cut the risk of death from heart failure by 26%.
It had a similar impact on the likelihood of patients being admitted to hospital.
The research findings were presented at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) annual meeting in Stockholm.
More than 700,000 people over the age of 45 are thought to live with heart failure, which occurs when damage to the heart leaves it too weak to pump blood efficiently round the body.
Heart failure uses up 1% to 2% of the total NHS budget and direct medical costs alone amounting to £625m each year.
Unlike other treatments, such as beta-blockers, ivabradine lowers the number of heartbeats per minute without also reducing blood pressure. BBC News
